


Akio and Akira

by Laparoscopic



Category: Katawa Shoujo
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-21 09:51:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21297518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laparoscopic/pseuds/Laparoscopic
Summary: A short little slice-of-life written for a writing competition.
Kudos: 5





	Akio and Akira

Mutou dropped into the bus seat. A little breath puffed out as he dropped, almost but not quite sounding like a soft groan. Another week, another rent payment earned, another set of students’ minds hopefully filled with at least a little bit knowledge. He stared blankly out the bus window at the Yamaku campus as he waited for the bus to begin moving.

He suffered from no delusion that he was the world’s most captivating and effective teacher, but he _did_ care about his students. He hoped he was at least helping prepare them to pass the science portion of their Center Tests come next spring. There were even a few who seemed to enjoy the sciences. The new boy, Nakai, was showing some promise—

“Hey,” said a blond young man as he sat down next to him. Then Mutou did a double-take. No, not a young man, a young woman, he decided. Slim, short hair, a man’s suit, but definitely female. He nodded to her, then turned his attention back out the window.

“You’re Mutou, right?” asked the stranger, forcing him to look back at his seat-mate. Which also made him question why the young woman had chosen to sit next to him—there were plenty of empty seats on the bus.

He nodded, not encouragingly. He was tired, and not really in the mood for chit-chat.

“I’m Akira Satou; my younger sister Lilly attends Yamaku.” Well, their hair at least matched, but little else did. The elder Satou was slim where Lilly was not, and apparently not as formally polite as her younger sister, because she went on, in the face of his silence, “You have a kid named Hisao in your homeroom class, right?”

Mutou nodded.

“What’s your take on him?”

Mutou resigned himself to the fact that he wasn’t going to get out of this encounter without speaking. “Why do you ask?”

Satou shrugged. “Eh. Just trying to take care of my sister. The boy looks like he’s a puppy dog waiting to attach himself to someone, and I think my sister has her eye on him. You should pardon the expression.”

“I don’t bother trying to track my students’ love lives, but as the new boy at school, I’m sure he’s attracted a fair bit of attention. You may have noticed that Yamaku’s student population skews heavily towards the female.”

“Yeah, lucky kid. As long as he doesn’t go breaking too many hearts in the process.”

Mutou snorted at that expression, which seemed particularly ironic given Nakai’s condition. Satou noticed, and cocked her head at him. “Something funny? Has he already been breaking hearts?”

Mutou shook his head. “No. Well, not that I’m aware of.”

Satou waited, as if hoping for him to say more about what had amused him, but he kept silent. He wasn’t going to discuss a student’s medical condition with a stranger. After a moment more of silence, she shrugged and went on, “Well, anyway, I was just looking for some idea of what he’s like, just hoping my sister is…I dunno. Making smart choices. Not setting herself up to get hurt.”

“You make it sound as if she already has more than just her eye on him,” Mutou observed.

“Yeah. Maybe. It’s hard to tell, even for me—she can be pretty reserved when she wants to be. Unfortunately.” She scowled at the back of the seat in front of her for a moment.

Mutou sighed to himself. “Keeping in mind that I only see your sister for one class a day, she’s always struck me as a remarkably level-headed young woman. I don’t think you need to worry about her choices.”

“Yah. I guess. I _hope_.” Satou blew out a breath, then smiled at Mutou. “Still, she’s my baby sister, and I’ve been taking care of her ever since my parents left Japan a few years back, so I’m perhaps a bit protective.”

Mutou shrugged. “You can’t protect her from everything. She needs to make her own mistakes, too.”

Satou rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but I’m hoping I can at least loan her a _little_ of my hard-won wisdom, and keep her from making some basic mistakes.”

Mutou snorted again. “You don’t look old enough to be so worldly wise.”

“Hey! I’m twenty-five. I can’t be that much younger than you.”

“I’m seven years your senior, young lady,” Mutou said, mock seriously.

“‘Young lady’ my ass,” said Satou. “I’m no lady.”

Mutou bit his tongue on the first response that came to mind. Then on the second, and the third. Which left him with not much to say but, “Hmm.”

Satou’s mouth twitched in a sardonic little smile. “Okay, I guess I did set myself up with that one.”

“Just a little bit.”

“Okay, so how about you?”

“Pardon?”

“I mean, its obvious you aren’t going to talk about your students with me, a stranger. So tell me about yourself.”

Mutou stared at Satou, utterly bemused. “Why would I want to do that?”

Satou nudged him in the ribs with a remarkably sharp elbow. “Oh, come on, a not-unattractive young woman sits down next to you on the bus and chats you up? Why _wouldn’t_ you want to get to know me better?”

Mutou’s bemusement gave way to amusement, and he said, “But _you’re_ trying to get to know _me_, not vice versa.”

Satou shrugged. “Eh. Step one.”

“Is this just an elaborate attempt to pump me for more information about Nakai?”

“Nah.” She waved a hand. “You’re obviously not gonna talk, and besides, you’re probably right. I should let Lils make her own mistakes. Dammit.”

Mutou felt a stirring of interest in this slim, irreverent woman, but he tried to quash it. No good could come from getting more personally involved with someone who sounded like she was as much a student’s guardian as sibling. And in any event, his stop was approaching.

He pressed the stop request button beside him, and said, “Well, Ms. Satou, I’m afraid this is my stop.” He made to rise, hoping she would take the hint and let him out of his seat.

She rose, and said, “What a coincidence. It’s mine, too.”

Mutou looked at her skeptically. “Really?” He’d never seen her on the bus before, let alone at his stop.

“Well, _any_ stop is my stop, really. I need to get on the next bus going back up to Yamaku to pick up my car.”

Mutou thought about that for a moment, as they paid their fares and got off the bus. “You got on the bus solely to speak with me?”

Satou shrugged. “Yeah. I wanted to talk with you about Hisao, and hadn’t managed to catch up with you anywhere else before then.” She offered an apologetic smile. “Sorry. Hope that doesn’t sound too stalker-y.”

Mutou considered it for a moment, then shook his head. “No…a touch odd, perhaps, but not stalker-y.”

Satou gestured to a the tiny neighborhood bar that stood on the opposite street corner. “Can I at least buy you a drink, to apologize for intruding?”

Mutou almost declined on reflex, but then he caught himself. What did he have waiting for him back at his apartment? More grading? A drink would be nice, and a drink with a “not unattractive” woman would be even nicer. “Very well, Ms. Satou. A drink sounds lovely.”

“Only if you stop calling me Satou. My name is Akira.”

Mutou hesitated. It seemed awfully soon to be on a first-name basis, but, well, she _was_ half-foreign. Different ways, and all that. “Akio,” he said, holding out his hand.

Akira grinned as she shook his hand. “Akio and Akira. Sounds like a comedy act.”

Mutou snorted. “Which one of us is the straight man?”

Akira laughed out loud and hooked her arm through his, pulling him toward the bar. “Come, now, Akio. I think we _both_ know the answer to that one.”

Mutou was all too afraid he did.


End file.
